About the Author
ROGER ROSENBLATT is a Peabody, Emmy, and George Polk Award–winning journalist, essayist, and television commentator. He is the author of eleven books, including the national bestseller Rules for Aging and Children of War, which won the Robert F. Kennedy Book Prize and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Lapham Rising is his first novel.
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PRAISE FOR Lapham Rising
“[Lapham Rising] is a hysterically funny class comedy—the sort of deeply humorous stuff that makes you wonder what would happen if Don DeLillo did stand-up or whether Rosenblatt is secretly British.”
—People
“Roger Rosenblatt is one of the (intentionally) funniest citizens of our time and Lapham Rising is a painfully funny comedy of manners set in upscale Long Island that evokes Jonathan Swift: ‘Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own.’”
—Joyce Carol Oates
“Fans of Roger Rosenblatt’s splendid essays will be delighted to know that he finally got off his butt and wrote a novel. Not surprisingly, Lapham Rising is a satirical gem. Every page pulses with a fine, venomous wit. If Roger gets expelled from the Hamptons, he could come to South Florida and feel perfectly at home.”
—Carl Hiaasen
“This is a zany tale. It is a comic novel perfectly conjugated, moving the reader with delight through a three-act plot.”
—William F. Buckley, Jr.
“Lapham Rising never hits a false note. It’s an engaging tribute to Rosenblatt’s proficiency with words and his obvious concern about the human condition. If this year yields another book even half as funny, we’re in for a hell of a time.”
—Time Out (New York)
“My wife had first shot at Lapham Rising and, day and night, she read passages out loud to me, none of which I was able to understand because she was laughing so hard. And then came my turn to read the book, and this time around Roger Rosenblatt’s crazy writer/shaggy-dog story made brilliant sense with its illuminating story, delicious wordplay, and take-your-breath-away nonsense. And this time around, I’m the one laughing out loud. This is a funny, serious book about our not-so-funny, serious times.”
—Jules Feiffer
“Roger Rosenblatt is that magical writer who reduces you to helpless laughter, but restores you with prose so deliciously descriptive you want to head to the Hamptons. If he wrote about Hell he’d make it so attractive you’d want to head there, too.”
—Frank McCourt
“This satisfyingly old-school stab at the Hamptons’ debasement will have New Yorker readers laughing out loud, even as it sends them up, too.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“If Shakespeare’s King Lear is the numero uno tragedy about real estate, then surely Roger Rosenblatt’s Lapham Rising is destined any moment to become the numero uno comedy about home building. It’s smart, sharp, and very, very funny, and books bought today will almost certainly increase in value.”
—Michael Arlen
“[An] uproarious debut…. Rosenblatt wields his satiric saber with skill and compassion.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“The whole book is a witty rant…such a rich collection of satiric scenes and cracks.”
—Washington Post Book World
“Rosenblatt is exceedingly clever and he knows the world whereof he writes. So readers will be best advised to…sit back and enjoy the show.”
—Christian Science Monitor
“Great stuff.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“This is Mr. Rosenblatt’s first novel. I hope it’s not his last.”
—New York Sun
Copyright
LAPHAM RISING. Copyright © 2006 by Roger Rosenblatt. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Adobe Digital Edition September 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-198690-1
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